Housing lottery launches for 125 rent-stabilized apartments in South Williamsburg
- New Yorkers who earn $21,566 to $173,920 may apply, and rents start at $544 a month for a studio
- Apartments range from studios to four bedroom at the nine-story building at 88 Throop Ave.
Housing lottery applications are open for 125 rent-stabilized apartments at a new development in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn. New Yorkers who earn $21,566 to $173,920 are eligible to apply, depending on the size of the household. Rents start at $544 a month for a studio.
The smoke-free building at 88 Throop Ave. has a community center, roof terrace, shared laundry room, and bike storage lockers. It’s located near the Lorimer Street subway station, with service to the J, M, and Z lines, and north of the Flushing Avenue station serving the G train.
Located between Gerry and Bartlett Streets, the nine-story building is unusual for a few reasons. It’s a Passive House project, meaning it was built to have a minimal carbon footprint. It offers deep affordability—and the rare four-bedroom apartment. And it was once at the center of a 2009 lawsuit over who would get to live at the building and its sister properties, Brownstoner reported.
Built by a handful of nonprofit affordable housing developers, the building is the first of a planned five-property project in the area known as the Broadway Triangle. Community groups sued over the initial plans, claiming the development excluded Latino and Black locals, and the resulting 2017 settlement promised that the units would go to a more diverse group of residents, Brownstoner reported.
The Throop Avenue building holds 140 units total, with some reserved for formerly homeless New Yorkers, and a 6,000-square-foot community center to be operated by St. Nicks Alliance, one of the project’s developers.
Unlike many available developments, the apartments are set aside for New Yorkers earning no more than 80 percent of the area median income (AMI)—a metric that depends on how many people you live with. Currently the AMI for New York City is $124,300 for a two-person household. The apartments available include studios as well as one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units.
There are 38 one-bedroom apartments available for households earning from $56,915 to $83,880. The rent for these apartments is $1,563.
The developers have set aside 50 percent of the rent-stabilized apartments for applicants who already live in the area. Future lotteries will use a lower ratio as a result of a lawsuit settlement, which claimed the practice of community preference perpetuates segregation and violates the Fair Housing Act. Check out: "NYC agrees to cut percentage of housing lottery units set aside for nearby residents."
Another 5 percent of the apartments will be preferentially given to NYC employees. A small percentage of the apartments are also set aside for residents with mobility, vision, and hearing needs.
Applications must be submitted online or postmarked no later than Aug. 20th.
If you’re interested and think you might qualify for one of these apartments, you can create a profile and apply online via NYC Housing Connect. For details on this particular lottery, click here. Don’t apply more than once, or you could be disqualified.
Winning a rent-stabilized apartment can be life changing: Rent increases are capped and lease renewals are automatic, providing long-term stability for NYC renters. Need more information on how the housing lottery works? Check out “6 steps for applying to NYC's affordable housing lottery.”
For some advice from successful applicants read “How to land a rental apartment through NYC's affordable housing lottery.” And if you or someone you know is having trouble with the application process, consider reaching out to a housing ambassador in the community.
Note: Brick Underground is in no way affiliated with New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development or the Housing Development Corporation. If you are interested in applying to these or other affordable housing developments, please go to NYC Housing Connect for information and instructions.
Have you successfully won an apartment through the affordable housing lottery? If you have first-person advice to share about the process, we’d love to hear from you. Please send us an email. We respect all requests for anonymity.
